“The Masonic system represents a stupendous and beautiful fabric, founded on universal purity, to rule and direct our passions, to have faith and love in God, and charity toward man.”

— William Howard Taft

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Tristan Bourlard's Film, 'Terra Masonica'

I've been remiss about writing about something very important for some time. Back in mid-May, my friend and brother Al McClelland from up in Fort Wayne passed along a DVD that is an incredible feat of documentary filmmaking: Belgian Freemason Tristan Bourlard's Terra Masonica. If you haven't seen it, waste no time and get it. Brother Bourlard is an award-winning director, photographer, author, and creator of scientific and historical documentaries, including the 2007 film, The Scottish Key.

I've considered myself extraordinarily blessed to have been able to visit numerous lodges across the United States, as well as in a handful of foreign countries. I've had Masonic experiences over the last almost 19 years that I've written about and shared, plus numerous others I cannot and will not write or speak of. But the Masonic world is filled with brethren who have traveled much, much farther and wider than I have, and I can't hold a candle to their accomplishments. In the 19th century, Rob Morris famously spent years raising money to fund his Masonic trip to the Holy Land to explore the Biblical origins of fraternity. Then, he spent more than two years writing a book about what he found, and the rest of his life speaking at lodges across the U.S., recounting his adventures. In the modern Masonic world, Pennsylvania's Tom Jackson may be the most well traveled Mason on Earth in his 16 years as the Executive Secretary for the World Conference of Masonic Grand Lodges, hitting all 50 states and Canadian provinces, and an untold number of foreign countries. And I know Oscar Alleyne is doing his best to try to catch up with him eventually. It's very telling that both of these worldly brethren acted as advisors on Terra Masonica, as did Mark Tabbert and many others from around the world.

However, Brother Bourlard has achieved what only a very tiny portion of Masons have ever done themselves. Across two years, he traveled the globe and visited some 80 lodges in at least 14 different jurisdictions with his camera and drone. The result is a beautifully shot, two hour documentary of his epic journey. He visited lodges as far to the north as the tip of Hammerfest, Norway, one of the northernmost towns in the world in the region of Finnmark (St. Joanneslogen Ultima Thule 146), and as far to the south as Cape Horn on Tierra del Fuego, at the tip of South America in Ushuaia, Argentina (1st Vigilant Fin del Mundo Lodge 496). He met Masons on almost every continent (almost) and toured lodges of every size, from the most magnificent like the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania's Philadelphia Masonic Temple, to the most humble surroundings of Mali and India. You will see the Mother Lodge Kilwinning "Number Nuthin'" in Scotland where our Masonic traditions first took the semblance of its modern form; the Prince Hall Masonic Temple in Columbus, Georgia where Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke in 1959 because the area churches were too afraid to host him; lodges in Israel where the seal of their grand lodge contains the square and compass, the Christian cross, the Crescent of Islam, and the Star of David intertwined; a lodge along the Niger River where they keep their location discretely hidden, where it flourishes nevertheless with both Muslim and Catholic members; several lodges throughout India where a Mason can find five books of Sacred Law on their altars; the underground vaults beneath Solomon's Temple deep within the Temple Mount in Jerusalem where Freemasons have met countless times; and much, much more in between.

Bourlard's ambitious goal is to show both the universal spirit and material culture of Freemasonry from all over the world, so as it unspools, overlook whatever gaffes you might detect—or think you detect—in order to soak in the wider message and experience. Members who know only the "regular, recognized" world of Masonry may occasionally chafe over references to women in some French, South American, or Indian lodges, for instance. Or his misunderstanding of Prince Hall related Shriners in New York. And some grand masters may choke over spotlighting the Widows Sons in Georgia (never mind that they raise a million dollars each year for Shriners Hospital in Atlanta). Please get past that which you may find foreign or what you may personally object to and take in what exactly he has accomplished with this outstanding program. Terra Masonica demonstrates the worldwide reach and success of Freemasonry as a philosophy for bringing men of all faiths and walks of life together, and truly making the world a better place by building temples in the hearts of men. If you ever doubted it, or just didn't realize exactly to what extent it is true, these two hours will open your eyes.

The shame of it is that this film is what the series that was done in England for SkyTV in cooperation with the UGLE should have been for the 300th anniversary of Freemasonry this year. It's that good. This program is well worth acquiring and showing as the Masonic education for your very next lodge meeting, wherever you may be. With luck, it will set off a spark of Masonic wanderlust in you and encourage you to travel far and wide, outside of your lodge, jurisdiction, state, country, and continent. Take advantage of that ability to go almost anywhere on Earth, where you will always find a society of friends and Brothers who can best work and best agree.

2 comments:

Bro. Hodapp, I tried to email you about a necessary correction, but my mail app wasn't cooperating, so feel free to delete this comment after you read it:In the final paragraph, you listed "Brazilian" and "Portuguese" as two separate languages, whereas the latter is the official language of Brazil, and the former is not a real language. Perhaps there was no comma intended between them?

Thanks. The comma was unintentional. I had copied his website's phrasing, but added the comma by mistake. To clarify what the website was actually saying, I have corrected my post to reflect that Bourlard meant a Brazilian-dialect Portuguese version of the film is available. Thanks for making me rethink it.

ATTENTION!PLEASE sign or otherwise identify yourself in your comment posts. I have been FLOODED for months with spam comments, and I've been forced to laboriously screen every post now. Anonymous postings on Masonic topics have the same status as cowans and eavesdroppers as far as I am concerned, and may be deleted if I don't recognize you or if I'm in a grumpy mood.

A mythic past. A visionary future. A legendary brotherhood.

Freemasonry is the largest, oldest and best-known gentleman's fraternity in the world. Historically, it is based on the Medieval stonemason guilds who built the great castles and cathedrals of Europe. Mythologically it is founded upon the building of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, as told in the Old Testament of the Bible. Modern Freemasons likewise use the tools, traditions and terminology of those earlier stonemasons as allegories for building Temples in the hearts of men.

It's said that we are a secret society. We do indeed have secrets—secrets that each individual man has to discover for and about himself.

At its core, Freemasonry is simply an attempt to make the world a better place, one man at a time. For each man, it can become as simple or as complicated as he himself desires.

It's not for everybody.

Maybe it's for you.

"Brother Chris Hodapp's [blog]...is thought provoking and is often the first place on the web where new ideas and matters of interest are posted."

In 2018 Chris was awarded the Caleb B. Smith Medal of Honor by the Grand Lodge F&AM of Indiana for his "distinguished service to Freemasonry in Indiana and worldwide."

Chris Hodapp received his higher education at Indiana University, the University of Southern California, Los Angeles Valley College, California State University at Northridge, and Indiana/Purdue University at Indianapolis.

He spent twenty-three years in advertising as a commercial filmmaker for Dean Crow Productions, shooting and editing close to 1,000 regional and national commercials, music videos and feature films. He has written scripts for corporate and non-profit clients, and his voice has appeared in countless television and radio commercials.

He was the editor and a contributor in 2004-5 to "Laudable Pursuit: A 21st Century Response to Dwight Smith"by the Knights of the North, a Masonic leadership think-tank focussing on modern lodge solutions. He has written for Indianapolis Monthly, Masonic Magazine, Templar History, the Scottish Rite Journal, the Knight Templar Magazine, the Indiana Freemason , the Phylaxis, and numerous other publications.

Hodapp and Alice Von Kannon developed episode outlines for the History Channel program, Brad Meltzer's Decoded in 2010, and contributed material on conspiracies and secret societies for TruTV and the American Heroes Channel. They have both appeared on National Public Radio, the History Channel, Discovery, National Geographic, Smithsonian, and the American Heroes Channel - most recently in 2017 on America: Facts vs Fiction.

Chris and Alice live in Indianapolis with their very French poodle Wiley who has them both answering to basic commands.

M.A.T.S.O.L.

If you are a Freemason who travels anywhere, you need to download the Amity app to your smartphone. Immediately.

Instantly identify lodges in all mainstream and Prince Hall U.S. jurisdictions, Canada, and more than 50 other countries. Determine a lodge's Masonic regularity immediately, and whether your own grand lodge is in amity with theirs, all on your phone.Apart from my own books, I don't advertise products here as a rule, but this service is absolutely free of charge, created by and for Freemasons, and with the cooperation of grand lodges all around the world.

I am a Freemason and a member of both the regular, recognized Grand Lodge of Indiana F&AM and the United Grand Lodge of England. However, unless otherwise attributed, the opinions expressed in this blog are my own, or of others expressing theirs by posting comments. I do not in any way represent the official positions of my lodges or Grand Lodges, any associated organization of which I may or may not be a member, or the fraternity of Freemasonry as a whole.

Be aware that no one person may speak on behalf of Freemasonry or present their opinion as being the "official" position of the fraternity, unless it is a grand master, and then, only within his own jurisdiction. While Freemasonry is a global fraternal organization, there is no single, authoritative, administrative Masonic body or figurehead anywhere in the world.

The unauthorized appearance of content from this site, in whole or in part, in links, aggregators, forums, comments or other websites does not express or imply an endorsement by the author.

If you are a Freemason and are lifting material from this website without attribution, shame on you.

PRIVACY INFORMATION

The author of this site does not in any way collect any data whatsoever from readers or posters, does not share any reader information with other sites or advertisers, and does not make use of any data collected by any embedded resources. However, this site is hosted by Google's Blogger platform, and is subject to Google's terms of service, as well as their data collection policy.

Pancakes Served Since May 2010 (plus 2,291,385 more between 2006 and 2010)